battery help. do i or don't I

[coolnana5]

ok another dumb question. my jayco tt came with a battery hooked close to hitch. i probably need it charged. or should i buy new one. i know i need a 12 volt, so i was told. my question is, someone said i only need that batter if i was going into a remote area. someone else said i do need it because i have electric brakes on my tt. I have had the brake controller installed in my car, but wouldn't my car battery work the tt's brakes or do i need a new battery on my tt to get the tt's brakes to work. if you understand this mess i wrote, please help. jackie from md.

[jim01]

First of all, there is no such thing as a "dumb question"!

Yes, you need a battery there. It does provide the electricity to apply your trailer brakes if it should become disconnected while driving down the road. It also powers almost everything else inside of your trailer. Your trailer has a charger built into it that should charge that battery when plugged into a 120 volt outlet. I've been told that this charger can be damaged if there is not a battery hooked to it. You need to check the water in the battery, charge it and see if it's still good. (Or take it somewhere and get it checked)

If it needs to be replaced, it should be replaced with a Deep Cycle battery because a regular car battery will not last very long on a trailer.

[kroving]

Hi Coolnana5
The battery on your trailer is called the house battery. When you are not hooked to shore power, it supplies power to all the 12 volt stuff (lights; appliances [some have computer boards that control them]) and your trailer breakes when the breakaway switch is activated. You should have what is called a power converter on the trailer. It converts 120 volt AC (the same electricity as in your house) to 12 volt DC.. When you have the trailer pluged in, in a campground, you can plug regular appliances into the plugs in your trailer and they will work. Your power converter in also hooked up to this "shore power" and will be powering all the 12 volt stuff and should be charging your house battery. Batterys are troublesome things. They only last a fue years and go bad and must be replaced. You must check the liquid level in them about once a month. Be careful the liquid is sulfuric acid. The water in the acid boils away and must be replaced. Use only distilled water.

I hope this helps to clear up some of the ???????.

Dave